The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | May 2023
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6 . Forensic Investigations Drones in forensic investigations of incident scenes provide great value by capturing information from a top-down view and data from scenes that may have been missed from the ground . In some situations , bad actors may have entered buildings from or left evidence on rooftops . Similar to traffic crash reconstruction , drones allow the creation of 3D models that provide an overview of the entire scene and can be reviewed later . Pix4D , SkyeBrowse and DroneDeploy are three promising solutions in this area , as well as traffic crash reconstruction .
7 . Searching for Lost Persons Many Law Enforcement agencies perform searches for lost persons . Drones provide an invaluable resource that can be used to search areas of ground terrain too dangerous or difficult to access on foot . They also can search large open areas more quickly than ground searchers , and thermal optics can help identify and locate hear signatures of people during both day and night operations . There are numerous cases of LEOs in the United Kingdom locating lost persons during colder weather via drones and ultimately saving lives . The Alameda County Sheriff ’ s Office has used this method numerous times to search seaside cliffs that would otherwise be difficult to access .
Police1 resource : UAV teams in action : Alameda County Sheriff ’ s Office
8 . Traffic Pattern Review Law enforcement is also helping evaluate new traffic patterns to ensure new routing is effective before making it permanent . During COVID-19 vaccination operations , drones reviewed vehicle movements and identified necessary adjustments for the most effective traffic flow during new routing for a vaccination facility . Tethered and stationary drones offer an easy way to capture this information .
9 . Tethered Drones Tethered drones are another tool being deployed by law enforcement and other public safety agencies . The drones are deployed in a stationary mode , which allows continuous overwatch . The tether serves as its power source and negates the need to change batteries . The tethered operation is relatively simple : a one-button launch and one-button land . The tethered drone offers a way to maintain the scene perimeter and both visual optic and thermal images that can be streamed in real-time . Tethered drones can be mounted on a vehicle , in a compartment , or be portable in a Pelican case and launched in seconds . Fotokite is one of the more common tethered drones and sees significant deployment by fire departments .
10 . Interior Drone Operations More recently , drones have become just as beneficial to deploy for indoor operations . In the past , officers would need to enter buildings and clear each individual room . This is one of the most dangerous and tense operations for law enforcement officers . Now drones can be flown into a building and conduct room searches remotely with no potential harm to the officer .
In situations where a person is holed up in a room , the drone can be positioned or “ perched ” to maintain surveillance . This intelligence also allows law enforcement officers to know the best time to enter . Some drones now offer the ability to not only see inside but also have two-way communication with a suspect . This enhances the ability to negotiate from a position of safety . In some cases , suspects have immediately surrendered without incident once seeing the drone . Brinc is breaking new ground with drones that can break windows , make entry and provide two-way communication with a suspect .
This past year the police departments in Dallas and Midlothian , Texas joined with the North Texas Public Safety Unmanned Response Team ( PSURT ) to develop “ drone clear ” protocols . These protocols create best practices in the use of drones to clear rooms . Cytta Corp . developed video and audio software to implement the drone clear protocols by flying and streaming video from drones to officers involved in incidents .
11 . Drones as First Responders The last and perhaps most promising deployment of drones lies in the Drone as a First Responder ( DFR ) program , which resulted from an FAA pilot project and began with the Chula Vista Police Department in California . The DFR program launches a drone at the time of 9-1-1 dispatch and is designed to provide eyes on the scene prior to the arrival of ground units . The drone provides invaluable real-time situational awareness by streaming live video to officers before they reach the scene . The Chula Vista drones are flown remotely by teleoperators provided by Flying Lion .
Chula Vista Police Chief Roxanna Kennedy says DFR is one of the most effective de-escalation tools in her department ’ s toolbox . Droneresponders . org created a national DFR working group to share information on policies , privacy , safety cases and concepts of operations ( CONOPS ) through an online resource center . At this time , there are 16 departments actively deploying DFR programs and more than 100 agencies interested . Some operational remote pilot solutions include Motorola ’ s CAPE software , DroneSense , Axon Air and more .
A recent advance in DFR waivers came with the waiver achieved by the Campbell ( California ) Police Department , which was
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